Was this really a good idea? (BMW 335i)

I also removed the plasti dip from the side skirts and they are space gray underneath.  The rest of the car is sparkling graphite metallic, so I will paint those to match at some point.  

Before

After

Looking much better! The wheels look plasti dipped. Try peeling off as much as you can and then spray some kind of oily substance and soak, wipe off. Maybe there is a better solution but this worked for me. 

I kind of like the slightly contrasting side skirts..

The wheels are plasti dipped and they are next on the list.  I’m going to strip it off and most likely paint them satin black.  I was removing a stubborn lug bolt and some pb blaster got on it and bubbles it up pretty quick.  I think I’ll try that or WD-40 which worked well stripping the side skirts.  Someone really liked plasti dip.  The only exterior plasti dip I’ll redo is the trim around the windows.  I think it looks good black.

Mostly subscribing so I can see updates and the adventure! I'm not nearly as well versed in the N54's as I am earlier generation motors so I'm looking forward to learning just as much as you!

Thankfully from some googling it appears that waterpumps are not quite the liability on these that they are on earlier cars so long as the electronics that control the pump play nicely.

I’ve been working on a few cosmetic things.  I’m doing it as cheap as possible to keep it in challenge budget.  I put some touch up paint on the hood.  It’s a bigger area than I like to do touch up on, but it looks better.

before

After

I have removed the plasti dip from two wheels and will get to the other two soon.  I also installed a front splitter I picked up from my neighbor for $20.  

 After originally doing the Teflon tape trick to the injector on cylinder 3 it was still going into limp mode, so I ordered a used injector off amazon for $48.69 just to see if that was the problem.  After swapping it out it was still going into limp mode.  I decided to go back to the original idea that the injector hole must have been bored out a little by a loose injector.  I pulled the injector back out and re-wrapped it, but this time I put way more tape on it to make sure it was going to be tight in there.  I re-installed it and it hasn’t gone into limp mode in the last two weeks.

I finally finished getting all the plasti-dip off the wheels.  It turns out that goo gone gel and a pressure washer make pretty short work of it.

Since I’ve got it running decent now my intentions are to bring it to the 2019 $2000 challenge and run in the Gastrpod class.  I’m going to have to get a different set of tires since the minimum tread wear rating for that class is 250.  The tires that came on it are TW240.  So close.  Any suggestions on an affordable tire are welcome. Fronts are 225/40-18 and the rears are 265/35-18.  The tires don’t count against the challenge budget, but I do have a personal budget to take into account.

Probably a good idea to abandon removing the reluctant spark plug.   I would guess that it is indeed pulling threads out.  Make sure to post what happens if you do pull it out. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

My first thought at well. For $1500 though... that’s still a steal. 

So when I pulled the wheels off to remove the plasti-dip I found that one of the tires had two bubbles on the back side of the tire.  I ordered a new tire to replace it.  Glad I found that before it went south.

Before I put the wheels back on I put a new coat of paint on the calipers.

I also found a name brand on the coil-overs.  They are solo-werks.  I Think a full set is around $600.  They look like they have been on a while.

The paint on the roof is pretty worn so I bought some gloss black vinyl off eBay and wrapped the roof.  It turned out pretty nice.  Definitely better.  Now I need to figure out what to do with the hood.  It’s worse than the roof.  I don’t have enough money in the Challenge budget to re-paint it.  I may try to buff it like crazy, but I’m not sure there is enough paint left to work with.

I also snagged a high kick p-style spoiler off eBay.

Just thought I would share this pic.  I had to move a mattress next door.  It’s more than the ultimate driving machine!

A little less than a month until the Challenge.  I’m really looking forward to it.  Since I’m going to run with the gastropods I’ve got new tires coming in this week.  I would like to clean the intake valves, put new brake pads on, apply some vinyl wrap to spice things up a bit and paint the wheels.  We'll see what I can find time to do.  I’m also trying to decide if I want to put a metal charge pipe on it.  I hear the factory plastic ones like to crack.  I should still have enough in the budget. It would be a bummer if that blew at the Challenge.  This car has been great so far.  Since we bought the car in March we’ve put over 3000 miles on it.  Looking forward to some good times in Gainesville.

We're excited to see this run! 

In reply to packrat :

Nice score, this will be a quick gastropod. I've heard the plastic charge pipes crack, especially on a tuned engine.  

A previous owner plasti dipped most of the...trim and some is peeling. 

Change 'previous owner' to 'the manufacturer' and that would be true of a great many euro cars!  

Although i'm sure they had some fancier name for their E36 M3ty coatings. 

I’ve got a metal charge pipe on the way.  The Gastropod friendly tires arrived and should be mounted later this week.

I re-plastidipped the grilles and the passenger side window trim this morning.  I’ve got new brake pads I’d like to put on tomorrow. 

I’ve ordered some walnut blasting media and will hopefully get to walnut blast the intake ports next weekend.  A friend has access to the equipment and is going to let me use it.  

packrat said:

I’ve got a metal charge pipe on the way.  The Gastropod friendly tires arrived and should be mounted later this week.

You've got me "out-tired" looks like you're going to be stiff Gastropod competition.

In reply to Indy-Guy :

We’re going to have fun man.  I’m looking forward to checking out your car and seeing it tear up the track.  

My oldest son (14) prepping the engine cover for a new paint job.  

Its cool having the kids help out and join in on the fun.

I got the new charge pipe in the mail this week.

I went to put it on today and it doesn’t fit wth the AFE throttle body spacer that came on the car so I’ll have to take the spacer off to make the charge pipe fit.  I’ll pick up some shorter bolts tomorrow and get it put back together.